Little Mysteries
by whimsycality
Summary: Light fluffy fun as we get a glimpse at an alternate future for the podsquad and a certain NCIS agent is driven crazy by questions with no answers.
1. Bottled Sunshine

**Title:** Little Mysteries

**Spoilers: **All of Roswell is up for grabs, for NCIS, can be set anytime after Ziva joined the team but before Jenny died.

**Disclaimer:** I own absolutely nothing, all characters and original Roswell settings belong to other very lucky people as do the characters and settings of NCIS.

**Pairings/Couples/Category:** XO/UC

**Rating:** Teen

**Warnings:** None really, it mentions a murder?

**Summary:** Light fluffy fun as we get a glimpse at an alternate future for the podsquad and a certain NCIS agent is driven crazy by questions with no answers.

**A/N:** This is part one of four, just a short little fic.

* * *

_**Bottled Sunshine**_

Something or someone collided with Michael's back, followed by the painful sensation of scalding hot liquid cascading down his shirt and soaking it through to the skin. Spinning on his heel with a muttered curse, he managed to catch the woman who'd run into him before she joined the now empty coffee cup on the floor. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I was trying to read that guy's shirt, the chemical formula's wrong so he's not as clever as he thinks he is, and I wasn't paying attention, and oh no Gibbs' coffee! It's a good thing he isn't here, you can't waste coffee, not in front of the Boss, and I was trying to surprise him since he's always bringing me Caf Pow's, and are you okay, that coffee was hot!"

Michael blinked, his brain, not yet jumpstarted by the coffee he was in line to purchase, not quite up to the task of processing the stream of consciousness babble that would have put a certain ex to shame, especially not when compounded by the woman's appearance, a dark and gothic look at complete odds with the cheerful energy practically vibrating off of her in waves. "I'm fine," he finally replied, his tone more curt than he'd intended as he let go of her arms and took a step back.

The woman's eyes widened further in apology and she reached down and picked up the empty cup, her black pigtails bouncing as she grimaced at the small puddle of coffee on the floor, much smaller than the still warm and wet patch on his back. "Here, let me buy your coffee. I've got to start paying more attention, you'd think I'd be better at it, it is my job to see all the details after all, but I get so focused and –" she paused abruptly as the cashier turned to smile at them. "Hello! It's me again; can I get another one of these?" she asked brightly, holding up the empty cup, "And whatever he wants, oh, and you should probably get one of those signs about the wet floors?"

The blonde woman behind the counter looked about as overwhelmed as Michael felt, but quickly nodded, sending one of her coworkers out to deal with the spill and getting two coffees ready for them in record time. "Thanks so much, have a great day!" the woman, whose name he now knew was Abby, exclaimed as she picked up the two coffees and spun towards him, making Michael flinch involuntarily as he braced for another hot 'shower'. But the lids remained safely on the cups and he warily accepted his from her with a nod of thanks even as he carefully kept a small distance between them just in case she 'lost focus' again.

"I hope you like your coffee, I think it's disgusting although I'll drink it if the caffeine withdrawal gets bad enough; Caf Pow's are way better, but the Boss loves it so I guess it can't be all bad. It was nice to meet you, but I have to go now, sorry again about your shirt. Bye!" Abby rattled off cheerfully after waving off his thanks for the coffee, and vanished out the door before he could reply to anything else she'd said.

Michael stared bemusedly after her, distantly wishing that Liz had been there, because he doubted she'd believe his description of the woman. But his current girlfriend had already left their apartment for her new job at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a fact that made him grimace with remembered distaste, the bubbly goth girl vanishing from his thoughts. He still thought working for the government in any capacity was a horribly bad idea, despite all of Liz's perfectly logical reasons why it was a good idea.

Between her and Isabel, he was going to end up reverting to his teenaged habits of blowing up random objects, and then he'd be the one burning random strangers with hot beverages.

The coffee on his shirt was beginning to dry and stick uncomfortably to his skin and his lips twisted contrarily into a smirk; if nothing else, the encounter had given him a brief respite from his aggravating thoughts. Tipping his coffee cup in the direction of the door in a silent salute, he took a long drink of the rich, hot beverage, and hoped that her mysterious boss got to enjoy his coffee without further mishap.


	2. Not a Redhead

_**Not a Redhead**_

Tony fiddled with a pen, staring at the elevator door and willing it to open. He was never the first one in the office, something Ziva had pointed out rather smugly the week before, prompting him to arrive at this ungodly hour. Clearly, he'd been smart to avoid arriving so early in the past, and would continue to do so in the future – it was boring. Reorganizing McGee's desk so that he couldn't find anything only took so long after all. At least he'd get to see Ziva's expression when she realized that he'd arrived before she did, and maybe he'd even be lucky enough to greet the new team member first, the reason he'd chosen _today _to set his alarm clock for such an obscenely early time.

The elevator dinged and Gibbs stepped through, sipping at his usual morning coffee, Ziva and McGee at his heels. The Boss raised one eyebrow in his direction, before shaking his head in amusement and proceeding to his desk. Ziva stared at him for a long moment, then chuckled to herself under her breath and muttered something to McGee, who, with a disgruntled twist of his lips, forked over some cash, making Tony gasp. She'd manipulated him!

Damn it, he knew he should have messed with her desk too.

Before he could come up with a suitably suave comment to explain his presence, the Director descended the stairs from the upper level, escorting a small and lovely dark-haired woman in a charcoal suit, wearing a shiny new badge proclaiming her to be the newest NCIS agent. To Tony's surprise, before the Director could introduce her, Gibbs glanced up from his desk and smiled. "Hello Elizabeth."

The woman smiled cheerfully back, dark eyes twinkling as Ziva, McGee, and the Director looked equally startled. "Hello Jethro, I suppose I'll have to call you Boss now?"

"Gibbs will do," Gibbs stated mildly, taking another sip of his coffee and making Tony splutter. Who was this woman? She wasn't a redhead, so she couldn't be an ex, and Gibbs didn't have any living family as far as they knew, or did he?

Before anyone else could comment, the elevator dinged again and Abby burst through, looking slightly manic as she held a coffee cup triumphantly aloft and practically skipped towards the Boss's desk. "I bought you coffee, Gibbs!" Gibbs tossed his now empty cup into the trash and accepted the new one from Abby, making the bubbly woman grin before she processed the presence of someone new and spun back around. "Hi! I'm Abby! What's your name? Have you met everyone yet?"

"Well, she's met one of us," Ziva drawled, faint amusement and curiosity coloring her dry tone as she exchanged a glance with Tony, who frowned at the reminder that there was a mystery to solve.

"Yes I have, but it was terribly rude of me not to introduce myself to the rest of you," the new girl said, hints of an impish smile lurking at the corners of her mouth. "Elizabeth Parker at your service, and it is wonderful to meet you all." She grinned suddenly, glancing slyly at Gibbs. "I've been waiting to put faces to names."

Tony's frown deepened as Ziva and McGee's eyes widened in surprise again. She knew Gibbs, Gibbs had mentioned them to her, and even the Director, a redhead who knew far more about Gibbs than any of them, didn't know who she was. Before he could finally ask a question, or say anything, Gibbs' phone rang with a case and they were all, minus Abby and the Director, crowding back into the elevator for a ride to the scene.

Staring at the back of Miss Elizabeth Parker's head, Tony vowed not to rest until he found out everything about how she knew his Boss – for the protection of the team of course.


	3. Filling in the Blanks

_**Filling in the Blanks**_

They'd examined the crime scene, where a naval officer stationed in Virginia had been found brutally murdered in his apartment, the only significant clue being the flash drive they'd found lodged in his esophagus. Abby had been rather put out when she couldn't immediately break the encryption, until she'd realized that it was some new fangled device just put on the market by an independent, new, and exclusive computer company that specialized in custom jobs, and convinced Gibbs to call in the owner/designer to help.

She was now pacing back and forth in front of their desks, muttering excitedly under her breath and exchanging the occasional enthusiastic rapid-fire geek comment fest with McGee, who'd looked nearly as excited as Abby at the stupid piece of purple plastic with an alien head logo. Tony snorted and turned his gaze back to the newest member of the team, who was diligently walking Gibbs through the Officer's background on the big screen, her casual familiarity with the Boss still grating on his nerves, even though Ziva, McGee, and Abby, had all already warmed up to her. Well, in Ziva's case, it was more like almost lukewarm, after a strange conversation about Jewish customs and plant life native to Israel.

"Traitors," he muttered under his breath, and then grinned innocently when Gibbs glanced over at him. The elevator dinged before the Boss could comment, and a tall and lanky man walked out, dressed casually in jeans and a dark blue t-shirt that said 'the answer is 42' in large white letters.

He could hear Abby whispering excitedly behind him, one long run-on babble, but before anyone could say anything, the man smiled broadly. "Lizzy! How's the new job? Michael's going to be so mad that I got to visit first."

Tony's jaw dropped. Did the new girl know _everybody?!_

"Hey Alex," said new girl chirped cheerfully, gracefully slipping between McGee and Abby to accept his hug. "It's going great, but, it'll be even better if you can help Abby here with your flash drive; she's as crazy smart as you are."

She winked at Abby who bounced forward with a face splitting grin and shook Alex's hand, her enthusiasm seeming to have met its match as Alex quickly joined her in unintelligible excited babble with multi-syllable words and insanely long acronyms while the rest of them looked on with increasingly glazed expressions, except for McGee, who looked interested despite his ill concealed jealousy at the instant bond between Abby and the handsome-in-a-geeky-way friend of their new coworker.

The two nerds soon disappeared towards Abby's lab slash lair while the rest of them gathered around Ziva's desk, who had hit pay dirt with a phone call to the dead Officer's ex-girlfriend. The girlfriend had spilled all she knew about his criminal brother who was always getting him into trouble. The new girl was the first to track down an address, her and Ziva both earning one of those almost-smiles from Gibbs as they once again crowded towards the elevator.

Tony grimaced and listed off clues in his head. She knew Gibbs, who trusted her enough that he'd mentioned the team to her; she was at the very least close friends with Alex, the genius owner of some computer company that made Abby and McGee have geekgasms; and there was someone named Michael who might be a friend, brother, or lover.

Gibbs smacked the back of his head and he realized with a start that they'd reached the parking garage. Right, Naval Officer's murder first, then he could focus on the case of the mysterious Elizabeth Parker.


	4. Blondes Have More Fun

_**Blondes Have More Fun**_

The brother was definitely involved. He'd tried to flee the scene as soon as he realized who was at his apartment door and had been taken down by the simple expedient of Ziva shoving the door into him so hard that he was nearly knocked unconscious by the collision with the wall that resulted. Gibbs and Ziva now had him in interrogation while Elizabeth was down in the morgue with Ducky, getting the autopsy details, and Tony was left to continue tracking down potential witnesses while waiting for McGee and Abby to get done with that damn flash drive. He had just resigned himself to accepting that it was an awful day and that nothing good could happen when one got up as early as he had that morning when an absolutely beautiful blonde woman walked in, her blue eyes sparkling as she met his suddenly not bored gaze.

"Why hello there, welcome to NCIS, how can I help you Miss…?" Tony asked charmingly, leaping to his feet and coming around the desk to meet her with his hand outstretched.

"Mrs. Whitman, I'm looking for Alex?" she responded, accepting his handshake with an amused smile that enhanced her allure even as her words crushed his spirit. He was going to shoot his alarm clock when he got home.

Before he could summon a response to her words other than the groan he was suppressing, Elizabeth, McGee, Abby, and the apparent Mr. Whitman, wandered back into the room, chatting amongst themselves as if they were all old friends.

"Tess!" Alex exclaimed happily as he raised his eyes and caught sight of his wife, "What are you doing here?"

The blonde walked forward into his open arms and gave him a light kiss. "I was going to try and kidnap you and Liz for lunch." She shot the petite brunette standing next to them a sly grin. "Michael's going nuts and I thought seeing you might keep him from driving Isabel or I to murder."

Elizabeth sighed, a resigned and amused smile crossing her face that, combined with the blonde's words, made Tony's hands itch with curiosity. "I'm not sure I'll be able to get away; we're in the middle of a case, although Alex did help us make a break through."

A throat being cleared prevented Mrs. Whitman from replying and Gibbs strode into their midst, trailed by Ziva. "Well, if that break through confirms the information that Mr. Owens gave us, then I suppose I could allow a lunch break," he paused and his lips curved into a sly grin, "as long as I can tag-along of course."

Tony gasped, unable to bring himself to care as everyone stared at him in amusement. "Boss!" He exclaimed before falling silent again, not sure what else to say that could express his astonishment at Gibbs' continuing familiarity with the new girl and her seeming endless string of friends.

The new girl chuckled and Mr. and Mrs. Whitman grinned. Alex turned towards Abby and McGee,the latter of whom looked far more comfortable with the other man now that he had a woman (who wasn't Abby) tucked into his arms. "Today was fun; you guys have my e-mail, we should hang out sometime – I can give you a tour of the company."

Abby squealed with joy and McGee's face indicated that he was holding back a similar noise of his own as they both enthusiastically agreed. Shortly afterwards, Alex and Tess left, promising to save seats for Liz and Gibbs, who would be joining them if the case allowed it.

Tony spent the next twenty minutes muttering to himself under his breath as Gibbs went over what he'd gotten in interrogation and compared it to the information that Abby and McGee had managed to pull off the flash drive. Ziva and Liz spent the time making phone calls and this time it was Liz who hit pay dirt when she discovered that their prime suspect in the sailor's murder had been picked up by the drunk tank early that morning and still hadn't been released.

Gibbs favored her with another almost smile before glancing over at Tony, still twitching at his desk. "Why don't you and Ziva go pick Mr. Rivera up, DiNozzo, while Parker and I go have lunch. We'll be back in an hour so for interrogation."

Tony blinked and nodded without protest, feeling kind of numb from all of the unexplainable events of the day. He watched silently as Gibbs and the new girl made their way towards the elevator, chatting like old friends and made a promise to himself that one day, he would know the secrets they were so cruelly hiding from him.

"Well, cut cut, let's go!" Ziva exclaimed, making him jump and glare as he bit back his automatic correction to her butchered colloquialism. She'd been probably tricking him with those too, sneaky little agent.

He was definitely murdering his alarm clock.

x

x

x

Liz curled into Michael's side with a contented smile and watched the other four banter over the lunch he'd prepared. Tess was teasing Alex over finding more geniuses to bond with and Isabel was seducing an openly willing and amused Jethro with every carrot stick she devoured. The age difference had been startling at first, but Isabel was an old soul (pun intended) and Jethro had proven a welcome addition to their little family, even if his job did make Michael turn into an over protective bear.

Liz was looking forward to working with him, and the others at NCIS, and had been quietly amused by Jethro's use of her last name, so reminiscent of how a certain alien used to address her.

Tilting her head up towards said alien, she silently demanded a kiss. He granted it and she hummed to herself – today had been a very good day.


End file.
